Linux scuppers notebook theft

There's a lesson here for us all

By Kieren McCarthy • Get more from this author

Posted in Business, 25th August 2000 10:05 GMT

Increase your knowledge of the latest threats to your busines

A reader told us an amusing tale featuring a friend of his - a Deutsche Bank employee, no less.

This man was happily supping in his local pub when he inadvertently took his eyes off his notebook for a second and - whoosh - off she went.

Not overly impressed, he went down the police station, filled in the forms and went home dejected.

The next day he gets a phone call from a bloke: "You left your laptop on the Ipswich train last night, where are you so I can return it."

This was most unlikely since he lives in the East End of London and has never got a train to Ipswich in his life. However, it's good to see that honesty isn't a dead virtue.

And that's the lesson part. To get all Biblical: do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Of course, the modern version is: do unto others before they can do the same unto you.

So, the question is: why did the laptop pub thief scum leave it behind? Was it abject stupidity or is there a more sinister reason? Well, the computer runs Debian and on start-up, the thief will have been faced with "Welcome to Debian GNU/Linux Login:" and a password prompt - a far cry from consumer and thief-friendly Windows, and proof, if you needed it, that Linux is more secure than Windows.

And that's the Friday story. Take care everyone and remember: a stranger is just a friend you haven't met yet. Then again, the likelihood is that he'll be an asshole so don't go out your way. He certainly won't. Bastard... ®